The development and validation of the social media sexual objectification scale among Chinese heterosexual young women.

In recent years, an increasing number of researchers have shown interest in sexual objectification on social media and its harmful outcomes. However, reliable instruments to measure sexual objectification within the social media context remain limited. This research describes the development and validation of the Social Media Sexual Objectification Scale (SMSOS) among Chinese heterosexual young women across two studies. Study 1 (N = 590) employed exploratory graph analysis to identify a four-factor structure: Direct Sexual Objectification, Reduction to Sexual Object, Reduction to Body Appearance, and Objectifying Other Women. Study 2 (N = 508) confirmed this structure through confirmatory factor analysis. In Study 1, SMSOS total and subscale scores were correlated with thin-ideal internalization, self-objectification, body shame, appearance-related social media consciousness, body image inflexibility, eating disorders, and acceptance of cosmetic surgery, demonstrating satisfactory criterion-related validity. In Study 2, the SMSOS explained additional variance in self-objectification and body shame beyond existing measures (Online Sexual Objectification Experiences scale, Objectification of Others Questionnaire, and Pervasive Body Gaze subscale), indicating sufficient incremental validity. Additionally, the SMSOS and its subscales showed adequate internal consistency reliability and 4-week test-retest reliability (N = 98). As a newly validated measure of social media sexual objectification, SMSOS provides researchers with a tool to advance the study in this field.